Relic: The Oracle
by Atreas
Summary: A strange new mission has befallen bounty hunter Samus Aran. Her mission: Retrive the "Oracle," a newly discovered relic in Galactic Federation space, from Space Pirate hands and return it to GF Headquarters. But the "Oracle" has a mind of its own...on


_Relic: The Oracle_

_Incoming Transmission…receiving origins…complete._

_Mission Received from Galactic Federation…………_

A cool finger tapped lightly the holographic keypad, entering an access code into the mainframe database of the Hunter class bounty ship. The order took a moment to process and the woman who had instructed the computer to retrieve the message from the database scanned for a last time the dozens of holographic starmaps that hovered before her sapphire eyes. The orange screens, outlined in red, overlapped one another and gave various readings on the population indicators and planetary temperatures within the system.

Twelve starmaps—twelve star systems under control of the Galactic Federation. The empire had grown drastically over the past hundred years, and while Samus had been around for but a fraction of that time, she was quite certain that she had played a vital role in the assurance of the development of the empire for many years to come. The twelve star systems under GF control were considered the most hospitable regions of the galaxy by all who lived beyond the fringes of the long-armed empire. Still, even within the GF controlled systems were dangers unparalleled by outside forces, and the main drive behind those who committed them was simply greed. But those were for GF marines and patrols in sector, and none of Samus's concern. What concerned her now, however, was the transmission she had received only a moment ago.

A single holographic screen stayed before her eyes. It was the star system Coerna. She was in sector on this starmap and that struck a profound interest with her. Usually, the starmap that appeared was out of range of imperial control. This was an oddity. The sector alignment grid quickly outlined itself against the starmap, breaking up the whole of the star system into literal thousands of smaller divisions. One sector flashed before Samus's eyes: 3215. Her ship was in this sector. Urgency struck her. She tapped the flashing sector quickly with her fingernail and the entire interface changed before her eyes.

The screen before her flashed into the sector, outlining all the vessels traveling in the area. A small green window materialized beside the large one floating before her and in the blue-outlined boarder of the window, Samus started to read.

From the Galactic Federation to Hunter Samus Aran:

Requesting Emergency Assistance in Sector 3215. GF presence in Sector 3215 minimal. Pirate scans detected. Sensors indicate location of Hunter Samus Aran in sector. Radar calculations indicate five cycles before Pirate Vessel passes from Sector 3215 and out of range of GF radar scans. Calculating… Mission sent.

Transport Frigate Oyech has been destroyed by Space Pirate vessels. Onvessel cameras report a raid before terminal destruction of frigate. It is believed that the raiders attacked the vessel to acquire the newly discovered relic, "Oracle," and hinder GF studies of the object. **Mission**: Retrieve "Oracle" and return relic to GF headquarters.

Before she finished reading the message, the mainframe computer had set the ship in motion. The coordinates were set and the mission accepted, as was custom to remain on good terms with the Galactic Federation. As the ship sped toward the Pirate Vessels, Samus rose from her chair. She would be upon them shortly and there was little time to prepare. The radar data was now programmed into her computer and she would not worry about losing the Pirate Vessels as the GF onplanet radar systems would after the vessel passed from sector to fringe space.

For once in many days, Samus Aran smiled. She had begun to miss the feel of her Varia Suit. The design, the original Chozo format upgraded by an exploration on a previous mission, now gleamed brightly, newly polished and ready for action, in the capsule hold behind the cockpit. She strode to the cockpit, ready to suit up, when the automated voice behind her started the interception countdown at four cycles. The time would pass quickly enough, and when it did, Samus would be ready.


End file.
